Rick Santorum's win in Louisiana reiterates concerns that people are not ready to coalesce around Mitt Romney, even though, Romney won 27% of the vote in Louisiana compared with the 49% that Santorum won. In fact, several of Romney's opponents have pointed out details about him that would compel voters to vote against him in the general election. For example, when he was still trying to get the G.O.P. nomination Rick Perry accused Mitt Romney of "vulture capitalism;" Around the same time Newt Gingrich criticized Romney's Cayman Island accounts; and recently Eric Fehrnstrom, Romney's own political advisor, said that the former Governor of Massachusetts' campaign will be like an Etch a Sketch when it transitions to the general election. Nate Silver, the blogger who makes projections based on polls, makes an interesting point that as voters get to know Romney they like him less, therefore, Silver's comment implies there is still "an anyone, but Romney" candidate people want.
One of the reasons that people would not vote for Romney is if Winning Our Future's ad (Romney King of Bain) stays on the air during the 2012 U.S. General Election because the video details Romney's time with Bain. The ad ran when Newt Gingrich was campaigning in South Carolina, but it was made by the Super P.A.C. supporting him; so, the Former Speaker of the House was able to run a positive campaign while Winning Our Future did the negative campaigning. The video highlights how Romney made his fortune and how he destroyed the lives of people working for companies that Romney's firm bought.
What is chilling is that Bain recently invested in China's Surveillance program. However, Romney is once again denying any responsibility because his funds are in a blind trust, meaning he has no control on how his money is invested. What is odd, though, is that Romney criticized one of his opponents, during a race for Massachusetts' senate seat, for having blind trusts. Moreover, the former governor said that having a blind trusts are an "old age ruse" because a person can pull out his or her investments from the trust. Similarly, during a debate in Florida Gingrich said:
We discovered, to our shock, Governor Romney owns shares of both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Governor Romney made $1 million off of selling some of that. Governor Romney has an investment in Goldman Sachs, which is, today, foreclosing on Floridians.Romney's defense, again, was that his investments were through blind trusts. However, not only did Romney shift attention from himself during the debate, but he was able to use a tu quoque fallacy because he also linked Gingrich to owing stock with the mortgage companies. What the former governor did was dodge a question by focusing on his opponent's credibility, which is something Romney does when pressed with questions that will result in answers that would not resonate well with the state that is voting at the time.
Even though Gingrich lost the debate against Romney, Gingrich does bring up the issue of Goldman Sachs whose business practice is coming to light because recently a former employee wrote a post for the New York Times arguing that Goldman Sachs is not the same as it was when he started working. During the years since he started at Goldman Sachs, Greg Smith said the company changed into a company that focuses on the company's interest not in its investors. The manner in which Smith describes Goldman resembles how Winning Our Future depicts Bain Capital, for example, he writes:
Today, many of these leaders display a Goldman Sachs culture quotient of exactly zero percent. I attend derivatives sales meetings where not one single minute is spent asking questions about how we can help clients. It’s purely about how we can make the most possible money off of them. If you were an alien from Mars and sat in on one of these meetings, you would believe that a client’s success or progress was not part of the thought process at all.There's a famous image of Romney wherein he and several associates at Bain are celebrating with heaps of money. This is the exact same culture that Smith is describing because, as he said, Sachs has a culture of zero percent quotients meaning there are zero quotients in regards to helping its customers make any money. It is clear that the reason why Romney is investing in Goldman Sachs is because he is familiar with its business practice. As a Bain executive, according to Winning Our Future's ad, Romney did the same as Sachs is doing, that is, going in and taking people's money; therefore, investing in Sachs is only natural as a "venture capitalist."
Consequently, there is more risk in having Romney as a President of the United States because he is rash when making decisions to turn a business into successful one. As Winning our Future's ad demonstrates, Romney fired people, restructured companies, and then sold the company to purchase another company to do the same to the new company. In fact, just in March Romney critized President Obama's energy policy and recommended that the President fire three of his cabinet members. In addition, a few weeks ago Romney said he likes being able to fire people; so, having someone with a draconian disposition will harm the economy long term because rather than spending to spur economic growth Romney will cut domestic spending, thus, slowing down the economic recovery.
Heading into the General Election it's more important to keep in mind what the Republican Party stands for and if they will be able to deliver different policies than what the Democrats accomplished in 2010. Paul Krugman points out that costs for Obamacare are falling, Republicans incorrectly cite that oil drilling promotes job creation, and how Republican's desire for austerity will destroy the economy in the United States. Thomas Friedman, also from the New York Times, wrote a post that explores different types of economic philosophies and the only way to know America's path is through the experiment of time. As terrifying as it sounds Friedman is correct and only when the General Election is over will Americans know the direction of the country.
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